Are My Site Colors Hurting Me?

by 52 replies
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I've had someone tell me that the color scheme on my site is "not working for me." My wife would say it's because I'm "a guy," but I don't have much of a sense for design:p. Would a few people be so kind as to let me know if they think the colors on my site here: Home Brew Audio could be a problem from a sales-effectiveness standpoint?

Content and a quality product are my top priorities, not site color. But if I am hurting my effectiveness due to color, which is easy to fix, I'd like to know.

Thanks!

Ken
#main internet marketing discussion forum #colors #hurting #site
  • With all my respects, the background is pretty ugly.
    Try to get rid of the gradient.
    A plain, solid blue, orange or yellow could work better.
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    • I think it looks pretty good, I've never seen a beer colored site before. I would leave it.
      • [1] reply
  • I suggest you play around with Thesis a lot more... Maybe find a guide online which shows you how to make a really profesional looking one. On the topic of the post, the colours are not working and I the text in the buttons doesn't also work (In my opinion).

    Lots of design errors, optin box, side bar, headers, corners of the background. I might suggest that you look at a lot of Thesis themes and see what others are doing.
    • [1] reply
    • Great feedback! Thanks a million.

      Ken
  • The background is a little tough. I would like to see it be a better gradient. Other than that i really like the design and think the site has great potential
  • The site looks great.
    Keep posting interesting stuff.That`s what really matters between success and failure not the looks of your site.
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    • There is only ever ONE answer to such questions and it is NOT yes, or no. The answer is always split test.
      • [1] reply
  • Thanks Glen! Looks like s busy Sunday afternoon for me, which is a good thing.

    Cheers!

    Ken
  • I tend to agree with rosetrees - I like you beer background in the header but as she pointed out it is bit too big - normally IM marketers advise that your header graphic should be about 780 x 150 or you can maybe stretch it to 800 x 180 depending on your wordpress theme.

    You want your links to appear "" which is when visitors come to your site the "affilates links" will be visible. You don't want your header graphic to take up too much space on the screen. What you really want for your visitors is to click on your stuff. To give you an example of this visit tracecellphonenumber dot net You will see the link that says "" in blue and it appears and is visible when you open the site. Don't click on it , it is an aff link!
  • Hi Ken

    IMHO the header is too deep. You are giving a lot of home page real estate away to an attractive graphic.
    The only other thing I would reconsider is the background around the page. I think it is too close to the theme colour.

    One other thing. I was not too sure what you wanted me to do on the page. I am a musician and have a home studio so I was interested in your message.

    It's a good looking site overall. I'm just being picky here

    Kenj
  • The header makes me think that the site is about beer and not audio recording. Think more direct response marketing and less about conventional marketing.
  • the color scheme is sort of dull, but the graphic design is hurting you MUCH more than your color scheme. it looks amateur at best. opt for a professional graphic designer - you'll be glad you did
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    • I agree with this. That banner is probably the best thing you have going for the site. I can see how some people would get mislead a little from it and understand why people brought that up, but having a unique kind of name and play on words is a good thing IMHO. It can be beneficial in many different ways.

      Since this seems like a "project" and not a quick campaign i would get someone to code you up a nice custom design that will put off a much more professional feel. Some things I would want to see them do is show off the opt in boxes more with Graphics/Colors/Border/Arrows and change nav bar buttons to something more custom looking so they actually want to click around. Overall make the site pop graphically more while still keeping the colors and layout clean looking. You could tell them to base the color scheme of the site off the banner you already have.

      Hope everything works out.
  • Plain blue background would be the fastest, easiest and most noticeable fix. I'd start out with that.
  • Banned
    Get someone to do a narrower header with a nice little logo. Change the background. The gradient is awful. If you do those two things, the site would look really great. Nice site.
  • I can't post links yet, but google "color scheme generator" without the quotes and use the first result. This will help you come up with a user friendly scheme that you like.
  • Makes me thirsty....blazing hot in NC today...cervesa por favor?
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    • I agree with some of the others - the header image is huge and a bit confusing. I had to look a couple of times to spot the real subject of the site. I started reading the article and thought to myself "what does this stuff have to do with making beer?"

      Unless you're certain that your visitors are all younger, you might want to experiment with making the font a size or two bigger (like a 12 pt) as some of your older readers may find it easier on the eyes.

      Apparently the gradient is already gone, but you might want to consider changing the black background to a medium gray. The black along with the golden beer color in your graphics is very close to the yellow and black color scheme used in warning signs. I'm not saying it's a major effect, but it might be a subliminal one...

      bretski, I feel for you. Here in SWFL, it's been highs in the mid-90s with humidity driving the heat index to the 110 range.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
  • I like the Atahualpa theme too because the colors are so customizable. A little add-on I like for Firefox is ColorZilla which is an eyedropper that gives you the exact color code used where you point your mouse. Go and look for colors you would like to use and you can then change it to the code you see on ColorZilla.
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    • [1] reply
    • LOL! YES! Because all I saw was a tall 'jamming' cup of beer, er, brewski! I don't know how it looked different to you....
  • It's pretty good - I've seen some really ugly looking colors in my time haha. You could possibly try a lighter background/gradient - personally I like light grey.

    The other thing is maybe changing the color of your navigation bar. It kind of blends in with the header and is easy to miss.

    Hope that helps! Good luck!
  • i agree with rosetrees suggestion as well.
  • Market research has shown that colors do play a factor in sales, unfortunately the only real way to find out is test, test, test..

    Check out Google website optimizer and split test different combinations
  • Did you change your color scheme recently (like today)? because the colors are fine.. nothing too off.

    But... as others have said.. you gotta cut that header down.. (1/2 probably).
    From a graphics standpoint it's awesome great job, that's a really neat logo..
    From a reading / marketing standpoint... it's the difference between your 1/2 of your first article being below the fold (I have to scroll) and me being able to read the whole thing without having to scroll..
  • Header WAY too big (taking 1/2 page on my screen). Need to better direct your visitor to do what you want them to do. One thing on the page. Not the colors its the layout and actions (too many links ie choices).
  • I thought it was about beer at first, figures.
    As for color I think its allright but being ma guy I only see in 16 bit.
  • I would leave it for awhile as it does look good. See if it converts into sales, or email
    captures, etc. You can always improve it later as I did
  • I don't really like the black background. It would be nice if it had a lighter background color that blended in better with the rest of the page. I also agree with others regarding the header. The header should be a lot shorter and maybe look at having a nice clean logo designed for you. Just something simple that does the trick. As someone else mentioned, I immediately thought the page had something to do with home-brewing. I understand the angle you are going with that name but the less confusion you create for your potential customers, the better. You may want to look at changing the name - better to do it now than later on. I can't help but think having the words 'home-brew' in your ads will result in a lot of your target audience just skimming past the ad because they think it is not for them.
  • It's not bad! But, I think you've played a little too much on the 'homebrew' theme in the design, and not enough on the 'audio' theme.

    Simple is better, in my opinion.

    Maybe 2 speakers on either side of the header with a simple homebrew text design and play on the audio theme. Done professionally, that would look really good...and you could do the same with the footer, in a lesser sense.

    Tweak and test, I guess.
    • [1] reply
    • Like many others said test test test. BUT I can tell you by my testing that the best color combination to sell to men (I am assuming your target market is men) is navy blue background with gold which you have for your header. Blue is definitely the most appealing color for selling to men.

      I would also change the opt in text to have a stronger call to action and benefits for doing so. Maybe something like:

      '8 video tutorials show you step by step how to get started in under and hour. If you act now we will throw in our top rated royalty free music you can add easily to fast track your success'

      A graphic to call attention to the opt in form would work wonders too. You need to call attention to it and people need to be told what to do. Arrows pointing to it have been proven to work well too.
      • [1] reply
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  • Blue & orange works for me. This works for amazon too . ! hence i just copied their layout for some of my niche product sites. and they seem to do pretty well. one site brings in 3 figures a month .
    • [1] reply
  • Maybe you're made some changes by now, but i think the colors are fine. Personally, I'm not a big fan of purple, but it doesn't look bad. The header may be a bit big, but it's eye-catching and well-designed. Trust me... I've seen a lot worse!
  • The color is fine. Not good not bad. Don't get too caught up in things like that. The real thing to concentrate on is conversion elements - calls to action, benefits, can the user blatantly tell what the site is about and what you want them to do. Minor design color issues can be addressed later and impede current progress. Have at it!
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    • not sure if you've done this, but i took the liberty of googling "home audio blogs" to see what your competition's sites looked like. a couple things i noticed:

      1) they all looked clean and professional
      2) they were all (except for one on the 2nd page) nicer looking than yours.
      3) none of the designs were super advanced or creative - making them easy for a GOOD designer to equal or outdo.

      no offense, but if you want to attack ANY market, you need to be as good, or BETTER than your competition in every area of the game. you should really follow my advice when i said to hire a professional graphic designer. you can find one on this site for cheap. you should also get a better template. hope that helps.
      • [1] reply
  • get your site professionally designed!!! it is well worth the investment....good designers have a sense of which colors flow properly together, making your site more pleasing to the eye, even if only subliminally. It will help your sales :-)
  • I like it because it looks like beer, but other people claim it reminds them of the oil spill or so they are saying. Site is good and legit, but audio micro is more solid if you know what I mean. Problem is that you are not selling beer so a different color scheme could be max for your scene.
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  • What doesn't work on websites (generally)

    -Big deep headers.

    -Lack of headlines.

    -Copy that talks about features.

    -Anything that distracts from the main message

    -Humour (trust me...it just doesn't work)

    -What DOES work on websites (generally)

    -A large print, benefit laden headline.

    -Words that explain the benefits of the product and not the features

    -Very clean...plain old black on white fonts and pages

    -A clear call to action

    -A massively valuable 'bribe-to-subscribe'

    -Split testing 'All the Time'


    Try this imaginary conversation with me.

    Me: "What elements and pages are you split testing at the moment"

    You: " Well I've just tested...." or "Well I'm just about to start testing...."

    Me: "And you think that what you're doing is internet marketing?"..."You're not even in the game"
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    • I would reduce the height and width of the header - and would change the background to either html 963626 (the dark red highlighted in the header) or html #E49F28 which is the med dark gold above the title in the header.

      That would blend the colors better as the blue (though pretty) just feels "off" combined with the multiple header colors.

      I agree that it's the content that is important - but if your site does not look appealing you may not keep visitors long enough to read the great content.

      kay
  • Simple, black and white color scheme is in my opinion the safest one. Then,... test.
  • I personally am a minimalist with my sites i try to follow the lead of google and facebook and steer away from the loud graphics
  • Wow what fantastic feedback. I don't have anything to add, just una cerveza por favor - and make it cold. It think the site will appeal to blokes for that reason
  • Banned
    Ok ... just for the fun of it, I took a stab at it. I have been working on a homebrew beer blog and I just made a couple of adjustments to it and did one for you, although your posts aren't in it of course. Take a peek and tell me what you think of it. Pretty drastic departure from what you have.

    http://homebrewezine.com/
  • go for bold light colours and avoid deep red as it psychologically develops negative reaction which you do not want on your website
    • [1] reply
    • Thanks again for the amazing feedback!!

      Cheers!

      Ken
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    Are My Site Colors Hurting Me?

    I've had someone tell me that the color scheme on my site is "not working for me." My wife would say it's because I'm "a guy," but I don't have much of a sense for design:p. Would a few people be so kind as to let me know if they think the colors on my site here: Home Brew Audio could be a problem from a sales-effectiveness standpoint? Content and a quality product are my top priorities, not site color. But if I am hurting my effectiveness due to color, which is easy to fix, I'd like to know.